MSI’s 10-inch Tegra/Android tablet coming this year for $500

MSI has announced that its ten-inch Android-based tablet will be available in …

Following Apple's unveiling of the long-awaited iPad yesterday, hardware vendor MSI has revealed that its upcoming Android tablet, which was first shown at CES this year, will debut in the second half of 2010 for $500.

The MSI tablet is built on NVIDIA's Tegra SoC and has a ten-inch touchscreen display. If reports about Apple's A4 are accurate, Tegra's Cortex A9 should put the MSI tablet on equal footing with the iPad in raw computing power.

Based on information about the current prototype, it's clear that the company has been working on some customizations for the Android software platform to adapt it to the larger tablet form factor. It's not yet clear, however, if Android is really well-suited to the higher-resolution display. Key functionality like the onscreen keyboard will have to be adjusted, for one. It's unlikely that an Android-based computing experience will be able to rival the refinement of Apple's user interface, but Android does offer a number of critical advantages, like full support for multitasking, that will give the MSI a solid chance in the market.

In related news, Michael Dell says that his company's 5-inch Android tablet will be ready in "in a few months" and will sell for just over $1,000. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5MP camera, WiFi and 3G connectivity, and Android 1.6. At more than twice the price of the MSI tablet and the iPad, the 5-inch device seems like it might be tough to sell without a carrier subsidy.

53 Reader Comments

$500? No thanks.Apple can get away with it because that's what they do, overcharge, but for $500 I can get a tablet that's x86 based so I can run real Linux or Windows, and maybe it'll even have a keyboard if I want, so I can type rather than have to use an onscreen keyboard.

ARM based tablets shouldn't be $500, they should be cheaper than a fully fledged x86 tablet running Windows.

Looks decent. Android is better than I expected, and that's where I'm heading if Apple continues to make beautiful products that are deliberately crippled.

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Key functionality like the onscreen keyboard will have to be adjusted, for one.

It doesn't look like Apple adjusted the keyboard on the iPad other than making it bigger.

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In related news, Michael Dell says that his company's 5-inch Android tablet will be ready in "in a few months" and will sell for just over $1,000. It has a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, a 5MP camera, WiFi and 3G connectivity, and Android 1.6.

What the heck? Too big for your pocket but still a tiny screen, outdated OS and double the price of a Nexus One?

Originally posted by trencher93ish:I want a basic pad that would do a good job showing my own PDFs (mostly IBM books) and photos. I don't want DRM, or to purchase online books/music/etc. What's a good choice? Is anything coming up?

I really hope the QUE by Plastic Logic fits the bill. It's a bit pricey though.

I don't really see any of these rivalling the Archos 9 in form or function just yet and I find it to be overpriced at $550. It's nice that so many more companies are getting into the market, but it's strange that they're not really offering anything that's competitive with what's already there. Perhaps by the end of this year the tablet form will be refined enough to be worth a look, but not yet.

Personally I'd like to see a company offer a dual touchscreen folding notebook, about 11" or so, or the size of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I dreamed about having something like that when I was a kid riding a school bus in the 80's and I'd love to see that made real. One of the main downsides will all of these offerings is that there's nothing to protect the screen when not in use.

Originally posted by Ten Wind:Personally I'd like to see a company offer a dual touchscreen folding notebook, about 11" or so, or the size of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I dreamed about having something like that when I was a kid riding a school bus in the 80's and I'd love to see that made real. One of the main downsides will all of these offerings is that there's nothing to protect the screen when not in use.

Have you seen the MSI dual-screen device with Win7? It was demoed at CES. In particular, check out the shot with the touchscreen keyboard. It seems like a pretty compelling concept. I'd like to see something like that with a custom Linux platform.

Originally posted by segphault:Have you seen the MSI dual-screen device with Win7? It was demoed at CES. In particular, check out the shot with the touchscreen keyboard. It seems like a pretty compelling concept. I'd like to see something like that with a custom Linux platform.

Why no I hadn't, thank you very much for that.

e downside of course would be that you still lack the tactile response of a keyboard, but it does obviate the very uncomfortable typing position necessary with other tablets. This one I'll be keeping an eye on.

Nope. This and several others were previewed at CES a couple of weeks ago.

The important thing is the narrative. Apple has once again shown the marketing skill to get its product placed as the comparative standard. It gets an automatic advantage in terms of attention, which results in more sales for less marketing dollars. Microsoft, Dell, Google, ASUS... so many companies would kill for that position in the market.

Maybe this analogy doesn't work, but I'd say it's comparable to the advantage the US dollar gets by being the world's reserve currency. It gets respect beyond what it merits in comparison to the Euro, Yen or other major world currencies.

As the wise man said: It's the software, stupid! The iPad's user interface is quite advanced and very intuitive to use. It's at least an order of magnitude more complex than the iPhone's, yet still works without a mouse and keyboard. The ability of the onscreen keyboard to adapt to the task of the moment is itself a potential gamechanger now that the iPad gives users a real playing field instead of a postage stamp. The iPhone was definitely a game changer in its own right. The iPad is what the iPhone had to become in order to actualize the full potential of its brilliant touch-screen interface.

From my perspective, the iPad is too far ahead of the curve for the average person to grasp—and way too far ahead for Apple's competitors to imitate successfully, much less improve upon. As Steve Jobs said at the conclusion of his presentation, Apple's really "got the goods" this time.

Originally posted by TechGeek:segphault, the new OLPC will be based on the same design. Two touch screens that face each other. That will run fedora. Dont know the price on it.

OLPC gave up on the dual-touchscreen concept last year and said that they are doing a more conventional ebook-like tablet instead.

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There is also the Notion Ink Adam which is suppose to be around $500 also that was demoed at CES and should be out in June.

Yeah, that one with the seems kind of interesting, but it seems like they haven't really fully committed to a $500 price yet. As I understand it, that's more like their target rather than the actual confirmed price. I like the fact that it uses the Pixel Qi screen, which should make it better than the iPad for ebooks.

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Lonyo: Well with that x86 you can expect half the battery life of the ARM stuff. Plus, these devices arent meant to be a laptop replacement.

Yep. I've been really disappointed that Atom hasn't been able to deliver the kind of battery life that I want in a netbook.

Originally posted by Ten Wind:Personally I'd like to see a company offer a dual touchscreen folding notebook, about 11" or so, or the size of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I dreamed about having something like that when I was a kid riding a school bus in the 80's and I'd love to see that made real. One of the main downsides will all of these offerings is that there's nothing to protect the screen when not in use.

Have you seen the MSI dual-screen device with Win7? It was demoed at CES. In particular, check out the shot with the touchscreen keyboard. It seems like a pretty compelling concept. I'd like to see something like that with a custom Linux platform.

With that plastic hinge it looks like a fisher-price toy to me. Does it come in Pink?

Nope. This and several others were previewed at CES a couple of weeks ago.

The important thing is the narrative. Apple has once again shown the marketing skill to get its product placed as the comparative standard. It gets an automatic advantage in terms of attention, which results in more sales for less marketing dollars. Microsoft, Dell, Google, ASUS... so many companies would kill for that position in the market.

Maybe this analogy doesn't work, but I'd say it's comparable to the advantage the US dollar gets by being the world's reserve currency. It gets respect beyond what it merits in comparison to the Euro, Yen or other major world currencies.

i wonder if another company could do that by walking up on stage and present the product, feature by feature, without any direct comparisons to another product out there.

what seems to happen these days is that most companies either present the product at a trade show like CES in a glass case or on a shelf, or send out demos to bloggers and others that then write what they think about the product.

apple instead shows on stage exactly the kinds of things a person can use the product for, out of the box. This then removes the kind of "what can i use this for" feeling that one may have with a new product. Said feeling is probably also why netbooks ended up with windows quite quickly as people have mentally connected laptop like shapes with windows (unless it had a apple on the cover), and so expected to use it for all kinds of things their existing desktop or laptop could be used for.

in other words, what this product presentation do is tell people "here is what we (apple) want you to associate this product with". Its marketing, straight out of the 80's consumer "individualism".

heck, their ads (at least the iphone ads) are the same; show and tell, like a video manual.

end result is that people already know how to use something when they go and buy it, and know what they are getting; rather then having to figure it out after they get it, or expect someone else to tell them what it can be use for, and how to do it.

so its not so much that apple products are easy to pick up from zero, its that apple have hammered into people already how to do the basics before a product is bought.

heck, as i type this; i am reminded of how gello was sold when it first came to market. Rather then sell it directly at the door, they handed out recipe fliers; showing what could be made by the product. And then they sold it to the local grocery store, after assuring the owner of that store there would be a increase in interest for said product.

Originally posted by alansky:As the wise man said: It's the software, stupid! The iPad's user interface is quite advanced and very intuitive to use.

yea right, and yet steve jobs himself walks up on stage to show people step by step how to do the most common tasks apple envisions people doing with this new product. Its a training course, disguised as a product presentation.

All these tablets just look like oversized PDA's without the pocket-portability. Netbooks were supposedly designed to fill some niche between smartphone & laptop. The same niche that PDA's tried to fill and failed. And now we're moving on to tablets trying to fill that niche.

Is there even a niche to fill? Or are these just specialty/concept items that only a few folks will love/need, like PDA's were?

With that plastic hinge it looks like a fisher-price toy to me. Does it come in Pink?

Apple wins on style.

I actually think it's gone the other way. The MSI device is good looking and very functional. I don't find the apple offering all that attractive with its massive bezels and poorly ported UI. With the demo of the main desktop it was painfully obvious that they'd just scaled the iPhoneinterface. Hell, on my iPod touch I have five icons per row rather than the standard four because I find it's a better use of space. On the iPad the icons simply look forlorn.

Windows 7 did look a bit awkward on the MSI piece, and it's obvious that they're going to have to do a fair bit of work before it's ready. It's the hardware that's important though since I can modify the software to my heart's content once I have my hands on it.

Originally posted by Tundro Walker:All these tablets just look like oversized PDA's without the pocket-portability.

People do carry around things in their hands. they have been for a long time, probably way before pockets were invented. More recently, i often go to class with just a pen in my pocket and a notebook (of paper) in my hand.

Why must everything fit in our pockets? if i gave someone a stack of books to carry around, they'd bitch and moan; not because they couldn't put them in a pocket, but because they are heavy. However, if i give you a kindle or now the ipad loaded with the same info in those books, compared to the stack of books it's much easier to carry, but now maybe it's too light. Too feminine and delicate, so it must be hidden, preferably close to the groin?

That must be the explanation, right?i bet the gray aliens in sci fi never wear pants because eventually even pockets become too much of a burden.

For many people, the internet activities they love are trapped inside a clunky device. A laptop, or worse some desktop tied to a desk, or worse still a console and a TV screen.

Is it so hard to see how devices like the iPad are going to be people's favorite way to get internet services? It's casual, the form is familiar, it requires no dongles or indirect input. Given the opportunity, I imagine the majority of people would prefer to surf this way.

More on topic, my skepticism towards "MSI's 10-inch Tegra/Android tablet" -- catchy name, btw -- matches the article, but there are other problems. The draw for devs is not quite there. Apple's iWork showing was ambitious and showed some potential direction for content creation along with a solid set of fully realized apps that showcase the potential of the larger area multitouch interface. I don't see that kind of strong showing coming from MSI.

On the other hand, I say bring on the pressure. It'll be better for all of us that are excited by this type of device if Apple has to stay light on its toes against some other strongly supported approaches to this idea.

Originally posted by segphault:I'd like to see something like that with a custom Linux platform.

Is there any word on how customizable these Linux platforms they're sticking on these things is? I'm left wondering if they're using something that exists (Moblin/Maemo) or rolling something new that ends up like the Splashtop install on my motherboard (completely undocumented and opaque, despite being Linux.)

Why God, why? ...do the anti-fanboys have to leap at every opportunity to crap on Apple? Archos? Seriously? If that ugly piece of plastic sells a 10th of the iPad I will eat my iPhone. Really, I'll do it.

Did any of you ever stop to think that you represent a tiny fraction of the market? Apple has specialized in catering to the vast majority of people who just want gadgets that do certain tasks really well. They need multitasking like they need to be able to mix a protein shake while mowing their lawn.

PS, my lawnmower doesn't do flash or have USB port either. It still mows really well, I promise.

If you can't recognize what Apple is doing with this product, then bad on you. Everyone who bought a Kindle is biting their knuckles right now wishing they had waited on this. The rest of the market will follow but never catch Apple on this one.

Originally posted by trencher93ish:I want a basic pad that would do a good job showing my own PDFs (mostly IBM books) and photos. I don't want DRM, or to purchase online books/music/etc. What's a good choice? Is anything coming up?

Originally posted by AaronSullivan:Is it so hard to see how devices like the iPad are going to be people's favorite way to get internet services?

I think the form factor is just fine. and it's proven. just look at the kindle. The design is proven too, by the iphone. It's actually an incredibly safe move for apple to make. the most impressive thing that apple has done is get the battery life they claim with such a large LCD screen. if this thing did have an eInk screen, think of how long it would go between charges!

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Originally posted by AaronSullivan: More on topic, my skepticism towards "MSI's 10-inch Tegra/Android tablet" -- catchy name, btw -- matches the article, but there are other problems. The draw for devs is not quite there. Apple's iWork showing was ambitious and showed some potential direction for content creation along with a solid set of fully realized apps that showcase the potential of the larger area multitouch interface. I don't see that kind of strong showing coming from MSI.

Maybe it's just me, but the bezel on both the MSI and the ipad looks about the same size. Yes they both look a little large for a device that should essentially be a piece of glass. I like the looks of the ipad better, but I like the screen dimensions of the MSI better.

I don't understand why people just can't be happy that the various devices exist depending on what you want.

Nothing comes without its cost.

All of them have their advantages, and disadvantages.

Do you reallly think an Intel based tablet running windows will have the same high level integration that the ipad has? Intel has there own linux variant OS for netbooks, but they couldn't even get graphics accerlation working with their lowest wattage chipset (Z530/US15W). Of course some things are optimized for the x86 platform like Flash. Only recently didn't Adobe even bother to port flash over to ARM. Plus you have Windows 7 and all that brings to the the table.

If you want optimized hardware along with software that takes advantage of it then you go to ARM (specifically system on a chip hardware).

Now you're talking about either Android or iPhone OS based. Microsoft isn't even in the market yet.For me personally I have a want/need/lust for the Cortex A9, and so its between Apple and essentially android till Microsoft gets there shit together on Win7 mobile. It was just like this before when I chose an iPhone over the G1.

Will Apple finally lose? I hope so, but that's because i want competetion and not because I hate apple.

I wouldn't mind carrying a PADD-ish sized device around in a pack or something if I could hook a bluetooth headset to it and use it for making calls. Include a slot I can shove a jawbone headset in and it would be even better . It would be worth serious consideration if such a thing existed since smartphones are just too small of a screen for so many things and existing tablet thingies don't replace the phone or the laptop. Of course, that assumes the web browser is decent and capable of handling hulu/netflix/etc type stuff, include wifi so I can hook it to the local network for webstuff on the couch without worrying about a zillion dollar overage bill.